Ringe

I am looking to buy a new WRx later in the year and would be interested to hear people's views on how to get the best deal on a new WRX. Local dealers wants £20k - Motorpoint Supermarket want £16.6k - anybody out there taken the Supermarket route?

corradoboy

Stay clear of the supermarkets. Most of them source their cars from outside the EU from places like Cyprus, rendering the pan-European warranty honoured in this country by International Motors/Subaru UK irrelevant. They will offer you a 1yr warranty which is worthless, and offer to sell you a 3yr one, which is 3 times as worthless. They don't often go wrong, but when they do, you really want someone who knows what they are doing with flat 4 boxer turbocharged 4 wheel drive machines, not some grease monkey (apologies to the member called that ) from the local Bodgit & Scarper garage.
Best route is to get a price from Tins which should be in the £18.5k region, then take that price to at least 3 dealers and start bartering. You probably won't get the price much lower, but you might get a few toys thrown in There is a very competetive dealer in Derby
You won't get a discount on it, but it's definately worth ordering the PPP(Prodrive Performance Pack) @ £1600 for fitment after the 1000 mile 1st service. It transforms the car into what it should be before EU nanny state noise and emmisions regulations sterilise it. Test drive with and without if you need convincing. If you are gonna hit the options list, I'd stick with performance and mechanical choices over cosmetic stuff as it will make the car easier to sell later. As will choice of colour. Silver ones are easy to keep clean and don't show minor dings and scratches, but no-one wants to buy them later. The new shape really suits black, but it's a bugger to keep clean. WR blue is a bit predictable, but it is THE colour. I don't really care for red or green.

Whatever you choose, I know you will enjoy it.
Happy shopping.

Ringe

Thanks for taking the time to put together a response.

I have wanted one of these things for longer than I care to remember and I'm doing as much homework as I can in advance. Picking up on your first point re : country of origin - does this suggest that if I can source one imported FROM an EU country that the warranty will be honoured over here? I guess I could always get on a ferry to France - do you know if that it worth a go?

As regards the PPP - guess this might impact upon insurance, which is another thing I will have to look into before taking the plunge. Presently running a company car as I've done for the past 7 years - no chance of a scary quote coming out of that!

Sorry for all the questions !!!!!!!

Thanks,

zhastaph

Norwhich Union Direct honoured my 7 years (accident free) driving as a company car driver and gave me a full no claims introductory discount.

corradoboy

The strength of the Euro has somewhat killed off the import scene at the mo'. By the time you've got through all the effort, travelling and paperwork, and then fitted an alarm, the savings aren't that viable compared to the UK price with discounts. When veveryone was importing the € was at 1.76 and bugeyes were £2k dearer here. There are companies such as Emporer and Litchfields who will do the work for you, but the savings are small and when you come to sell on, you might loose that saving to a shrewd buyer.

For insurance, get a quote from Liverpool Victoria. Ignore the online legal disclaimer which says they don't cover modified cars, get your initial quote and then phone them up. Make sure you speak to a male (sorry) as they seem to get the Scoob scene a bit better. They should cover any mods except capacity increases for no extra £. If you're over 30 with a good NCD and no points with a reasonable postcode you should be in the £800-1000 range.